The Trebor Story

‘This is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for grown-ups. Inside are treats for all – nostalgia freaks, social historians, machinery nerds and anyone interested in marketing, manufacturing or in the history of British tooth decay.’ Lucy Kellaway, Financial Times.

Britain’s industry once rose on the back of family firms like Trebor – plucky, private ventures that punched above their weight. From hard roots in the Victorian East End of London, this tiny sugar-boiling enterprise grew to become the nation’s biggest maker of sugar confectionery.

This book brings back the world that made those sweets: the Trebor factories and sales vans, the darts teams and work outings – all the ecosystem of a thriving family business, from a time when managers could tend a firm rather than simply feed shareholders.

Today Trebor still leads UK mints, but only as a name owned by a global snack giant. The firm is long gone. So too are most of its products. The Trebor Story remembers not just a bold and caring business, but also the variety – and fun – once brought by sweets.